Three Cubes: the Metaverse solution for accessible and impactful education

It‘s not necessary to limit screen time in order to improve pupils‘ learning performance. This might sound controversial but wait until you learn about FIRSTPICK‘s accelerator participants, Three Cubes . The startup, featuring a team of professionals from the gaming and education industries, has found a way to bring immersive education to every classroom. So what challenges do they encounter on their way toward becoming a mainstream teaching tool? Read our interview, and find out.

What is Three Cubes about?

Three Cubes is a game-based learning platform for schools, bringing a revolution to education. Our team of experts creates formal and informal lessons in a virtual game world and provides this immersive educational learning platform to schools. Our content is integrated into the schools’ curriculum. We now use Minecraft: Education Edition as a virtual place to create and provide educational content. We focus on the global education shift by creating lessons that develop not only knowledge but also soft skills. Our target group is 2 -12 grade students. Schools and parents buy monthly lesson subscriptions for them.

Our digital learning platform provides a borderless solution for gaining a quality education. Our game-based lessons are easily scalable — the content can be translated into different languages and used worldwide.

Can you tell us about coming up with the idea for Three Cubes?

Adopting the best of what technology can offer in many schools is too slow. Students live in a new age of fascinating innovation but learn in a tiresome way. There is a gap in skills taught in schools and skills needed in the real world. Also, there has been no real overall improvement in the education system globally in the last decades. Our team saw the potential in new interactive technologies as a solution and started exploring this idea.

We help schools transform and utilize the full potential of technology in education. Three Cubes game-based learning platform changes the schools’ static learning system into a highly engaging one. By combining game-based setting and educational content, our lessons are perfectly suited to bring out students’ motivation to gain knowledge and skills. Teachers don’t have to be experts in digital technology and can provide ready-to-use digital lessons, while parents can be sure that their children are taught in a digital setting where they develop multidisciplinary skills. With the Three Cubes platform, school becomes a place where technology enables multi-faceted learning and is up-to-date with the “real” world.

How do you stand out from the competition?

We have competitors in different tiers. The most direct is Microsoft itself. Minecraft: Education Edition offers free singular lessons on different topics to teachers. However, teachers need to be familiar with Minecraft in order to use or create lessons themselves. The process is not automated. Also, most of the lessons are hard to incorporate into the formal curriculum and do not offer multiplayer collaboration. With Three Cubes, schools get a ready-to-use product. We cover every step in the school's journey to easily equip game-based learning for long-term goals, and teachers don’t even need to become game experts.

What one thing makes Three Cubes really special?

Our team! We have tested and developed our ideas together in various ways that can work in our technology-driven world. This led us to gain unique experience with education and video game technologies. And our startup reflects that — we offer a thought-out game-based learning platform that brings an innovative approach to education, which is much needed in the 21st century.

How was your journey so far??

We tested many different product variations to find the best solutions.?

We started experimenting with different digital educational products in 2017. One of our Co-Founders was the main architect in building Tesla Gigafactory in Minecraft. Later, the project got a shout-out from Tesla’s official Twitter account. We partnered with Vilnius municipality in building Lithuania’s capital in 5 different epochs in Minecraft that could be used with VR for schools. We then released educational game-based adventures for schools and parents and also partnered with MO Museum, a telecommunications company, other institutions, and influencers to carry out educational game-based projects.

In 2020, we released informal game-based lessons about going to Mars that were immensely popular. Later, we provided an informal game-based course on Ecology.

In 2021, with our gained experience, we started providing formal game-based lessons to schools. At the moment, we have a variety of formal lesson packs on different curriculum subjects and also informal lesson packs on climate change, carbon monoxide, and more.?

We also participate in Game On, Comic Con Baltics, and the biggest education technology exhibition in the world — BETT London.

What are your main achievements so far?

In 2019, we won the national Reach for Change social business competition.

In 2020, we won 1st place in the category "Learning and education" in a national competition in Lithuania.

In 2020, we were selected as one of Europe's 16 best digital solutions (Young Innovators category) in the international World Summit Awards.

Markets we have launched in:

·? 200+ organizations have used or use our programs;

·? 30,000+ children have gone through our learning platform;

·? 6+ years in the Lithuanian market;

·? Piloting in U.K. and U.S. markets;

·? Our startup is the leading game-based learning organization in the Baltic States.

We have raised 250,000€ ( FIRSTPICK included).

Are there any challenges you‘re working to overcome now?

Becoming independent from other game platforms. Right now, we are creating our own Three Cubes platform that will provide schools with an improved system of game-based lessons.

What are your plans for the next year?

We are bringing our solution to other countries and creating an even better user experience with game-based learning!

Find out more about three cubes by following the team on Linkedin or visiting their website: www.three-cubes.net

If you consider partnering with Three Cubes, you can contact the CIO Darius Kniūk?ta directly at: [email protected]

More about the FIRSTPICK acceleration program: here.